Method and system for the delivery and storage of high definition audio-visual content

ABSTRACT

A system for permitting temporary access for delivery of owned Content to a location selected by a Subscriber is provided. An enhanced progressive download system for High Definition audio-visual Content is also provided.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority in U.S. application Ser. No. 14/270,559filed on May 6, 2014 that, in turn, claims priority in U.S. provisionalapplication Ser. No. 61/854,999 filed on May 6, 2013, both of which areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to a system and a method for delivery ofHigh Definition audio-visual Content (e.g. a motion picture ortelevision program) to a Subscriber's (e.g. a consumer who purchasesContent) location and storage of the High Definition Content. Moreparticularly, the present disclosure relates to a system and a method ofhigh performance delivery of High Definition audio-visual Content tomultiple locations, which locations are designated by the ultimateSubscriber.

2. Description of the Related Art

For over thirty years, the Subscriber marketplace for the residentialconsumption of long-form audio-visual Content has been robust. This sortof Content distribution, where discrete Content or groups of Content areacquired by the Subscriber for perpetual (e.g., purchase, sell-through)or limited (e.g., rental) viewing, allows the Subscriber to own or rentContent for a period of time, controlling the viewing of it as he or shedesires.

This ability for the Subscriber to control viewed Content is differentthan streaming services introduced thirty years earlier, first asbroadcast television and then expanded in the form of source providers(i.e., “linear channels”) via cable, satellite and other real-timemeans. With Subscriber ownership or rental, Content and viewing timesare determined by the Subscriber, not the source provider. ThisSubscriber ownership convenience is the foundation of the packaged mediasell-through industry, coupled with the Subscriber's ability to view oruse the Content multiple times without further cost.

Based on industry data, Subscribers continue to desire to “purchase”audio-visual Content. This is in spite of the availability of very lowcost fees (˜$1.00/day) for the “rental” of Content.

In the mid-1990s, video on demand (“VOD”) was introduced, providingaudio-visual Content and associated data to the homes connected to aparticular network. VOD services are now available in all parts of theworld. The United States has the highest global take-up rates of VOD.

The distribution of audio-visual Content today is essentially alldigital, whether it be packaged media or via electronic means. The largedistribution of a single signal makes streaming VOD impractical for mostsatellite TV. Satellite TV may offer VOD Content to its Subscribersthrough a service that downloads the Content to a Subscriber's digitalvideo recorder via non-satellite means, e.g. through the Internet, sothat the Subscriber can watch, play, pause, and seek at theirconvenience. Cable operators' offer of VOD, and digital video recorders,such as TIVO, have taught the Subscriber that the convenience ofpackaged media can be enjoyed without the time and effort of shopping inphysical retail stores to acquire the Content carrier (e.g. a DVD).

Streaming VOD systems, e.g. Netflix, are available on desktop and mobileplatforms. However, there are limitations with this approach.

The “remote-control, on-demand” culture is almost half of allresidential viewing and is beginning to dominate and materially alterviewing habits even of linear channels (LA Times Feb. 14, 2013,“FOLLOWERS watch on own time'). Convenience of choice and time isdriving this behavior. However, the desire to “purchase” Content has notyet surfaced significantly in the digital delivery industry. Thus,packaged media continues to be the choice for Subscribers to “purchase”long form audio-visual Content (Variety, Jan. 31, 2013 “Discs stilldominate homevid”).

Even though the Content industry (the six major motion picture studiosand several independent producers and distributors) has licensed manydigital distribution companies that offer all current business models of“sell-through”, “rental” and “subscription”, sell-through still lags farbehind what packaged media purchases would suggest. Indeed, whenever anew sell-through offering is announced there is significant Subscriberuptake (Variety, FEB 15 “Sony CEO: Bust windows”) that quickly fizzles.The widely observed behavior of Subscribers that have embraced“on-demand” viewing and the continued robust packaged media salessuggests that there is a fundamental flaw in the current way to offerSubscribers digital delivery of “sell-through” audio-visual Content.

Storage of audio-visual Content in the home, just as optical media, suchas the DVD, is now stored, assures the Subscriber that access to his orher sell-through Content is never in doubt. However the digital storageof downloaded audio-visual Content or “large objects” ranging in sizefrom 1-10 GB of data, in the residential setting, is problematic. Costsare high, and the method to overcome the inevitable failure oftechnology, such as arrays of redundant hard drives, has heretoforeappeared not practical.

Subscriber use of the Internet to access remote storage for digitalContent files (“large objects”) has become popular and has recently beenmarketed under the euphemism of the “cloud” by companies such as iTunes.However, the Internet cannot be relied upon to service the “main room”viewing experience for VOD premium High Definition audio-visual Contentwithout very high cost access fees (currently $70 to $150/month). Thispricing model is likely to increase, not decrease. Indeed, it isgenerally believed that High Definition audio-visual, on-demandperformance that would visually compete with the current two leaders inpremium sell-through, Blu-Ray optical disc and iTunes (the latter using“progressive download” that results in significant wait times, forexample 5 minutes or more, rather than instantaneous viewing, e.g.within seconds and less than one minute) is only extant in 10% of UShouseholds to enable immediate play.

Contention based networks, such as the Internet, are very cumbersome andcostly to engineer to guarantee performance for audio-visual Contentstreaming. It is a fundamental characteristic of the various contentionnetwork technologies such as terminal control protocol/internet protocol(“TCP/IP”), Ethernet, and the like. A good example is the recentdifficulty of HBO GO Subscribers had to access Game of Thrones (Variety,6 Apr. 2014). Thus, if storage in the home is not practical, and storageoff premises, while practical, cannot be satisfactorily accessed usingcontention based network technology, as demonstrated by the Internet,there is a need for a solution to this problem.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure provides a system and a method of highperformance delivery of High Definition audio-visual Content to theultimate

Subscriber.

The present disclosure also provides such a system and a method of highperformance delivery of High Definition audio-visual Content to multiplelocations designated by the Subscriber.

The present disclosure in addition provides a system for permittingtemporary access for delivery of owned Content to a location selected bya Subscriber.

The present disclosure further provides a system and a method forproviding electronic sell-through offerings of High Definition digitalaudio-visual Content that is acceptable to a Subscriber when viewed on aTV screen 42″ or larger in the home or residence of the Subscriber.

The present disclosure still further provides a system and a method fordelivering reliable, high performance electronic streams while at thesame time assuring the Subscriber who owns the Content, that the Contentis securely stored at a location preferably not at the Subscriber'sresidence, and as accessible to the Subscriber as packaged media.

The present disclosure provides a system and method that uses highbandwidth connection(s) and certain compression rates, along with aninterconnecting facility, to ensure availability regardless of thechange in residence locations.

The present disclosure further provides an enhanced progressive downloadsystem for High Definition audio-visual content.

The present disclosure allows enterprises to offer a Subscriber, HighDefinition audio-visual Content that is immediately available forenjoyment by the Subscriber with a visual quality that is competitivewith the highest standard available today and that is availableregardless of a future residential relocation, as well as accessible attemporary locations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The various present embodiments now will be discussed in detail with anemphasis on highlighting the advantageous features with reference to thedrawings of various embodiments. The illustrated embodiments areintended to illustrate, but are not limited to, the present disclosure.These drawings include the following figures, in which like numeralsindicate like parts:

FIG. 1 is a schematic of the overall audio-visual Content flow accordingto the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of Content flow of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a Subscriber moving to another local networkwithin the system of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a Subscriber receiving temporary access tothe system of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is diagram of the delivery of the audio-visual Content from thestorage location to the Subscriber illustrating another embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of the enhanced progressive download accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of the creation of a Master List of Contentacceding to an embodiment of the present disclosure

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure provides for a system and a method forresidential use that, through proper capacity and adequate bandwidth,assures continuous delivery of High Definition audio-visual Content.Further, the present system and method achieves this without significantdelay in start time, e.g. several minutes or longer, and without theneed for local storage, e.g. progressive download. The audio-visualContent is viewable on a High Definition TV screen in the home orresidence of the Subscriber.

High Definition as used herein can be distributed in many technicalforms. High Definition Format has several meanings. These meanings orstandards are: for “live action” Content, such as sports or otherproduction intended to convey a live character, as per Society of MotionPicture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) ST 296M:2012, High DefinitionContent uses frame rates above 50 per second. Note that approximately80% of professional and college sports events in the United States arecaptured and distributed using that standard. For scripted Content, suchas motion pictures and episodic television programs as per theInternational Telecommunications Union Rec. ITU-R BT.709-5 Part 2, HighDefinition Content uses frame rates of 23.97 and 24 per second andprogressive scan (and in the near future REC. ITU-R BT.2020 as amended).

According to the present disclosure, the access of such large objects,as High Definition audio-visual Content, streamed to the main viewinglocation in a home requires a certain high bandwidth in order to deliverthe Content without delay or interruptions and with the Content having acertain, desired visual quality. In order to do so, it has now beenfound that certain data rate parameters must be assured to realize thisvisual quality.

Each data rate is a function of two parameters, namely the particularHigh Definition Format and the type or scheme of Image Compressionemployed. There are three well-known Image Compression schemes, namelyMPEG-2 (ISO/IEC 13818), MPEG 4 Part 10 (ISO/IEC 14496-10), and MPEG H(ISO/IEC 23008). Each pair of these parameters, namely High DefinitionFormat and Image Compression scheme, requires two different data ratesto achieve “visually lossless” results, or a Peak Signal to Noise Ratio(PSNR) of at least 42 decibels, depending on the network'simplementation. If using “variable bit rate” (VBR) coding, the bit rateis chosen for constant PSNR, e.g. quality, with an average rate and amaximum or peak rate. If the “constant bit rate” (CBR) is chosen, asingle bit rate is chosen to achieve the target PSNR throughout theContent, then the sustained rate is the same value as the peak rate.

The preferred Data Rates that can be used in the present disclosure are:

DATA RATES in Megabits per second MPEG 2 MPEG 4 Part 10 MPEG H aver-maxi- aver- maxi- aver- maxi- age mum age mum age mum SMPTE 259M 7.5 154 10 — — ITU REC 709 10 20 5 10 3 8 ITU REC2020 — — — — 8 15

The systems and methods of the present disclosure need to assure datarates such as the above in order to achieve the objects of the presentdisclosure. To do so, a dedicated “channel” is assigned to theSubscriber that meets the criteria of bandwidth. For example, it has nowbeen found that the use of Frequency Domain Multiplexed (FDM) channel isa preferred dedicated “channel” that is a fixed bandwidth. The fixedbandwidth should be approximately 39 megabits per second. This dedicatedor reserved channel with fixed bandwidth remains as long as theSubscriber is viewing Content. This is significantly different than theInternet that uses TCP/IP networking protocol (IETF RFC1122) andInternet-like networks, such a local area networks using Ethernetprotocol (IEEE 802.3). In the Internet, a “shared” bandwidth amongst theusers is employed. In such Internet cases, the resources, in thisinstance data rate, made available to convey audio-visual Content(namely, moving pictures with sound) varies for each Subscriberdepending on the requests of resources of all other users. To compensatein such Internet cases, a technique called “adaptive bit rate encoding”(ABR) is employed where the PSNR is variable as a function of networkresources rather than Content requirements to achieve a certain visualquality level, and the Subscriber is subjected to an undesirablevariability of visual quality. Again, the Internet exhibits the exactobverse of the goal of the present disclosure in which the resourceassigned is the data rate required to convey the Content with a constantvisual quality based on its image complexity.

Referring to the drawings and, in particular, FIG. 1, the present systemis generally designated as reference numeral 100. System 100 has aCentral Facility 110 that manages a database 115 of Subscribers, and oneor more local network operators or networks 120. Each local network 120has agreed to become part of system 100. Local network 120 is connectedby a reserved or dedicated, duplex communication line 190 to aSubscriber 140. Communication line 190 is the reserved or dedicatedbandwidth channel or duplex communication line having the fixedbandwidth discussed above. Preferably, communication line 190 is aFrequency Domain Multiplexed (FDM) channel.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, Subscriber 140will always have access to his Content regardless of where he/she islocated or may relocate, provided he/she has access to a local network120 that is part of system 100. System 100 provides connectivity tolocal networks 120. Each local network 120 is selected to be part ofsystem 100, since each local network 120 will provide an adequatecoverage of the territory. Thus, Subscriber 140 is assured, andpotential Subscribers are assured, that each Subscriber will have accessto the Content that is associated with that Subscriber, i.e. theSubscriber's “owned” Content. As used herein, owned means Content thathas been purchased or otherwise acquired, such as gifted, and for whichownership resides in that Subscriber.

In Central Facility 110, the audio-visual Content that each Subscriberhas acquired, e.g. Content now owned by each Subscriber, are compiled indatabase 115. As shown, database 115 is in Central Facility 110.However, database 115 can be operatively connected (not shown) toCentral Facility 110. From the Central Facility 110, each identifiedlocal network 120 is operatively connected by communication line or pipe118. The connection of communication line 118 of the Central Facility110 to each identified local network 120 serves two purposes. First,Central Facility 110 is a clearinghouse for the list of Content, namesthat the Subscriber has accumulated (owns), i.e. rights, and thereforecan be transferred between or amongst local networks 120 in system 100.Second, Central Facility 110 provides access to each Subscriber'srights, such as ownership of Content, when the Subscriber is “visiting”another local network 120. Also, the rights information in CentralFacility 110 ensures that all owned audio-visual Content for eachSubscriber is available in all local networks 120 that are part ofsystem 100. This assurance can be done in several ways, preferably bythe methodology of first comparing a list of all owned Content with theactual Content resident in each server 121 in each local network 120 notpresent, Central Facility 110 will deliver, via a network transaction,the missing Content to local networks 120 in system 100 that do notalready have them in their network servers 121.

Central Facility 110 uses traditional duplex data communication lines118 and studios 160 and/or distributors 170 use traditional duplex datacommunication lines 162 to send Content to the local networks 120. Thesetransmissions or communication lines 118 and 162 are not for direct useby Subscribers 140. Significantly, local networks 120 use their reservedbandwidth channel or duplex communication line 190 shown in FIG. 1 todeliver Content to their Subscribers 140 from their local networkservers to local network 120. By way of example, when Subscriber 140purchases or otherwise obtains audio-visual Content, local networkdatabase or database system 125 communicates with Central Facility 110via communication line 119 and deposits the purchase information. Thisis called “rights management” in that the rights obtained by Subscriber140 have been stored so that when temporary access requests are made bySubscriber 140 or when the Subscriber relocates to another local network120 territory the rights or list of rights of that Subscriber 140 aretransferred to another local network 120.

Also shown in FIG. 1 are the various studios 160 and distributors 170(only one of each is shown) that use a communication line 162 to deliverContent to the Central Facility 110. Various studios 160 anddistributors 170 can use communication line (not shown) to deliverContent directly to local networks 120. Once delivered to local network120, the Content is available for purchase (or other acquisition) bySubscriber 140. Once purchased or acquired, and thus owned by Subscriber140, local network 120 where the Content was previously is immediatelyavailable for view, and notifies the Central Facility 110 viacommunication line 119. Central Facility 110 then notifies all otherlocal networks 120 in system 110 that the Content is owned viacommunication line 119.

When Subscriber 140 moves to another local network 120, that Subscriberwill authenticate himself or herself, using their previously assignedsign-on and password and/or other credentials with the new local network120. The new local network 120 will report the Subscriber 140 to CentralFacility 110. Central Facility 110 will deliver the list of audio-visualContent that is owned by Subscriber 140, i.e. the rights. As Content isowned (including purchased), the Central Facility 110 compares, usingconventional means, the Subscriber's Content rights against the Contentalready in all local network servers. Missing Content will be deliveredto the all local networks as Content becomes owned. This can occur whenlocal network 120A licenses Content that is not licensed and offered forsale by all other local networks. In this way, the Subscriber willalways have access to his/her Content immediately regardless of wherethe Subscriber relocates to or attempts to access owned Content from alocal network on a temporary basis.

It is important to note that while the list of owned Content is uniqueto Subscriber 140, the Content of that list that is required to betransmitted by server 112 of Central Facility 110 to server 121 of localnetwork 120 via communication line 118 is only that Content that doesnot already exist on server 121. Importantly, that Content on server 121is accessible by all Subscribers of local network 120 and is achieved insystem 100 by accessing the single instantiation of the Content inquestion. This feature is of significant importance in that it achievesefficiency of transmission from Central Facility 110 to local network120 via communication line 118 and efficiency of the total requiredcapacity of server 121 of local network 120.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the system 100 of the present disclosureincludes the following protocol. As shown at 210, local networks 120 areconnected or interconnected with Central Facility 110 via communicationlines 118 (shown in FIG. 1). At 220, Central Facility 110 is alsoconnected to one or more studios 160 and other licensors or distributors170, shown in FIG. 1, that license Motion Picture and Televisionepisodes. Local network A of FIG. 2 (shown as local network 120A inFIG. 1) licenses audio-visual Content, i.e. Content yy from a Studio C(shown as studio 160 in FIG. 1), at 230. At 240, Studio C then informsCentral Facility 110, via communication line 162 of FIG. 1, that localnetwork A (120A) has licensed Content yy. Also, Studio C deliversContent yy to Central Facility 110. At 250, Central Facility 110delivers Content yy to local network A via communication line 118 ofFIG. 1. Local network A makes its Subscribers aware that Content yy isavailable for purchase at 260. At 270, Subscriber D purchases Contentyy. At 275, local network A checks the credentials of Subscriber D andif the credentials are authenticated, sends Content yy from its localserver 121 to Subscriber D, namely 140 of FIG. 1, significantly, usingreserved bandwidth channel, namely 190.

Local network A then informs Central Facility 110, via communicationline 119, that Subscriber D has purchased Content yy. Database 115 ofCentral Facility 110 receives that information that includes allContents that are purchased and which Subscribers have purchased whichContents. Central Facility 110 queries, using communication line 119 ofFIG. 1, each local network (local network 120 of system 100) for theContents that are resident in their server 121 and compares thatinformation against all Contents in database 115. Any Contents not inany database 125 of any local network 120, i.e. missing, is then sent byCentral Facility 110 to those local networks 120 missing the Content.

Referring to FIG. 1, Central Facility110 uses communication line 118 todeliver audio-visual Content to each of its local networks 120 that, inturn, delivers audio-visual Content for viewing in real time toSubscriber D in his/her residences using set top boxes that, in turn,convey the Content to television displays using the universallyavailable and standard data connection HDMI or whatever technologyreplaces it. It is understood that some local networks 120 may havearranged for their STB functionality to be within the TV display. Asnoted above in discussing local networks 120, system 110 should have alarge number of local networks 120, which in turn have a large enoughterritorial range to ensure virtual universal coverage of the desiredterritory, e.g. the USA, North America, and the like.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, Central Facility 110 candistribute Content to local networks 120 when local network 120 haslicensed Content for purchase by Subscribers 140, or the local networks120 can arrange to have Content delivered directly from the studio 160or distributor 170. In all cases, Central Facility 110 does not fulfillSubscriber requests directly, local network 120 does the fulfillment.

Content delivery to local networks 120 from Central Facility 110 shallbe accomplished using any means available, including the Internet, sincethis step does not include delivery for direct consumption by Subscriber140 that requires the dedicated fixed bandwidth channel 190. The masterfile of the Content provided by the copyright licensor, such as studio160 or distributor 170, to the Central Facility 110 will be compressedby, for example, using JPEG2000 as per ISO/IEC 15444-1, with a data ratesufficient to ensure the highest quality, approximately 200 Megabits persecond. The compression technology, file structure and other parametersdelivered to each local network 120 will be tailored to the localnetwork's requirements by Central Facility 110, whether it bestandardized which is a public, voluntary Standard, such as by theSociety of Cable TV Engineers, SCTE, for example, or proprietary.However, in all cases, the delivery to such local networks 120 will beat such rates to deliver the target PSNR. In this way, the highest andconsistent quality possible will be enjoyed by Subscribers 140,regardless of network conditions.

Referring to FIG. 1, Central Facility 110 includes an authenticationengine or system 112, a fraud detection protocol or device 114, aContent distribution programming or management 116, and a transactionengine 117, as well as the database 115.

Authentication system 112 compares business rules with the requests madeby Subscribers 140 attempting to access Contents. These rules caninclude various requirements, such as, for example, a) only one locationcan view a particular Content at a time, and b) flag suspicious usepatterns at “temporary” locations for further analysis to protectagainst fraud or secondary markets. Authentication of logon and passwordwill include heuristics to enforce contractual rules including thenumber of Contents viewed simultaneously per Subscriber, location ofaccess attempts, the simultaneous viewing of a Content and the patternof access attempts.

Fraud detection protocol or device 114 is any such protocol or devicethat is commonly known in the art that virtually guarantees theconfidentiality and accuracy of the information in Central Facility 110.

Typically, Content distribution programming or management 116 willfacilitate the use and control to be provided for the Contents ownedincluding those purchased, Contents offered by all local networks 120,Subscribers' password and logon names, and the name of Contents thateach Subscriber has purchased and continues to own. Other categories ofdata can be added to the database management as desired.

In Central Facility 110, there is included the credentials and otheraccount information of all Subscribers 140. These credentials preferablyinclude the login credential, such as an email address or substituteuser name, an email address or other way of communicating withSubscriber 140 such as a USPS address, local network 120 of theSubscriber, and a password. This information is forwarded by each localnetwork database 125 via communication line 119 to Central Facilitydatabase 115. Additional account information includes all Content thatis owned by Subscriber 140. Central Facility database 115 can alsoinclude a database of all local networks. These two databases areconvolved to create a list of all Content that resides at the server ofeach local network 120.

With the present disclosure, Central Facility 110 provides continuousupdates of owned Content and will inform each licensor of what Contentsto be delivered to its master Content archive 113 in database 115. WhileContent archive 113 is shown in database 115, Content archive 113 can belocated remote from but operatively connected to database 115 andCentral Facility 110.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, when a Subscriber 140, again calledSubscriber D for purposes of this discussion, relocates to another ornew local network (shown as local network 120B in FIG. 1), the identityof Subscriber D is transmitted by local network 120B to Central Facility110 using communication line 119, the list of owned Content or rightsthat the relocated Subscriber D is associated with is forwarded byCentral Facility 110 to the local network 120B. In this way, localnetwork 120B (which already has all Content that all Subscribers own+)has all the rights associated with Subscriber D.

What transpires is shown in FIG. 3. At 310, Subscriber 140, shown asSubscriber D in FIG. 3, has moved his/her residence to location that isserved by the new Local Network B. Subscriber D subscribes at 320 to thenew Local Network B in order to continue to have access to his/her ownedContents. At 330, Subscriber D enters his/her credentials into the newLocal Network B. At 340, the new Local Network B requests CentralFacility 110 to authenticate Subscriber D's credentials. Ifauthenticated, the new Local Network B receives the list of Contentsowned by Subscriber D. At 350, Subscriber D then has access via the newLocal Network B to all Contents owned to date.

Referring to FIG. 4, Subscriber visits a residence or other non-publicviewing location, perhaps served by another local network such as localnetwork 120C in FIG. 1. Subscriber needs to obtain Temporary Access.Temporary Access is by definition in a location other than the residenceof Subscriber. After Central Facility 110 authenticates the credentials,a check is performed to determine whether another location using theSubscriber's credentials is streaming Content yy. If YES, then theSubscriber is informed of the usage limitations of his/her rights. IfNO, the fraud system or device 114 is queried to determine potential forfraudulent use of credentials, such as unauthorized use or those thatviolate the usage rules. If the answer is YES, Central Facility 110alerts the department responsible for investigating such actions. If theanswer is NO, database 115 will be updated with this latest usageactivity of the Subscriber and the visited local network will beinformed to serve Content yy to that location.

Temporary Access of the present disclosure is achieved both withoutgross inconvenience on the part of Subscriber and with the assurancethat unauthorized access is virtually prevented. This is important sinceaccess to subscribed Content wherever Subscriber might findhimself/herself is a major benefit of the digital age. Most, if not alldigital Content platforms, have a method for temporary access from a“temporary” location, e.g. Netflix, iTunes, and certain linear channelssuch as HBO (using HBOGo) and USA Network (using TVEverywhere). However,two challenges to successfully achieve Temporary Access areinconvenience and fraud. The use of “credentials” and “authorization” isnecessary to realize Temporary Access with convenience and withoutfraud. The inconvenience associated with the use of “credentials” and“authorization” has been well documented as problematic in that the“credentials”, usually a user name and password, must be entered into anappliance in order to access Content. The proliferation ofpassword-requiring sites coupled with the challenge to remember thedifferent passwords and also to enter each into appliances not designedfor typing in long strings of characters (such as a STB), has beenwidely recognized as an inconvenience that, at times, thwarts access.Credentials can also be shared and/or sold. In the case of sharing, thecredentials are entrusted to people who will not abuse them and/or makeunauthorized purchases. On the other hand, when purchases cannot beauthorized by the credentials, and only access is possible, unauthorizedsharing becomes rampant.

The definition of fraud in this case is that Temporary Access toSubscriber's previously purchased Content is obtained by a person who isnot the Subscriber and who's credentials have not been permitted to beshared and/or sold. Secondary markets have arisen in which credentialsare sold without authorization of the Copyright holder. Thus, the methodfor Temporary Access described in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure is both convenient and difficult if not improbable to succumbto such unauthorized use. The Temporary Access system of the presentdisclosure includes a number of distributed functions and devices thatintercommunicate with each other via an encrypted public Internetconnection.

An “App” (aka Application) is provided by Central Facility 110, calledCentral Facility for the purposes of the discussion of FIG. 4, forsmartphones and tablets. It is available to verified Subscribers. Theavailability is through a number of ways, such as Phone # SMS (text) orverified email address. The Subscriber, through this App, communicateshis/her desires to Central Facility. The App has access to “locationservices”. These location services ascertain the instant physicallocation of the smartphone or tablet, e.g. GPS, subscribing to wi-finode directories, and then reports this location to Apps that requirelocation information of its host device, e.g., a smartphone or tablet.The App also includes a list of Content, updated and supplied by theCentral Facility, of all purchases by the Subscriber.

A preferred embodiment of the Temporary Access of the present disclosureis shown in FIG. 4. A Set Top Box or other Appliance of a Local NetworkOperator displays a unique ID number when requested to by theSubscriber. In particular, at 405, the Subscriber navigates using theremote control of the STB to locate the menu page that exposes itsunique ID #, and enters the unique ID # into the Temporary AccessApplication in the Appliance. Preferably, the Set Top Box or otherAppliance has a certain “button” on the screen, which is preferablylabeled, to make clear that when touched the screen will display the STBID number to the Subscriber.

A database of the Local Network Operator has been filled withinformation provided by the Local Network Operator that listed thephysical address of the installation of the particular STB installed atthat location. This database ties the unique ID to the street address ofthe location of the Set Top Box.

A database of geocoded addresses at Central Facility can be searchedusing the “Location Services” information sent by the app.

A location comparator is in the Central Facility. The locationcomparator receives two addresses “whose input is the two addresses soderived”. The first address is delivered by the Local Network Operatorand the second address is that delivered by the App in the smartphone ortablet.

At 410, the Subscriber, using the Application, selects the Content to beaccessed that the Subscriber wishes to view from the App's list ofContent already purchased by the Subscriber. As used herein means ownedby the Subscriber or otherwise licensed to the Subscriber on a long-termbasis. At 415, the Application queries the Appliance for its locationand the Appliance delivers its location information to the Application.The Application, at 420, creates a message to be sent to the CentralFacility via some common communication network, such as, for example,the Public internet. The Application adds the Content that theSubscriber has selected to the message at 425. At 430, the Applicationadds the STB Unique ID # to the message, and at 435, the Applicationadds the Subscriber Unique ID # to the message. The Application adds thelocation information to the message at 436. At 440, the message is sentto the Central Facility, and the Central Facility processes the receivedmessage. At 445, the Subscriber identity is compared against theirpurchased Content. At 450, if the Content has been purchased by theSubscriber, Central Facility queries the Local Network or Local NetworkOperator that includes the STB that has been identified using the UniqueID # of the location of the STB. At 455, the Local Network Operatorsupplies the location of the STB to the Central Facility. At 460, theCentral Facility compares the location of the reported STB to theLocation Services information in the message. If the two locations areadequately proximate at 465, using the various techniques the CentralFacility employs to determine fraud activity, then the Central Facilityinforms the Local Network Operator to play the Content to that STB.

Location Services are built-in applications of smartphones and tabletsthat provide other applications with location information as needed. Agood example would be indicating the current location on a geographicmap to allow the user to locate themselves in relation to theirsurroundings. Location Services is supported by geocoding. Geocoding(and the eponymous industry that provides these services) is the act ofindexing the location of places, especially street addresses, with auniversal grid pattern. This enables places of business, points ofinterest and especially street addressees to be found on maps as well asthe reverse to occur.

When Central Facility receives the request via the Public Internet madeby the Application of the Subscriber, Central Facility inquires of theLocal Network Operator the street address or geocode of the unique ID.

The Local Network Operator seeks the street address or geocode of theunique ID from its database and sends it to Central Facility.

The Central Facility derives a street address or geocode from theLocation Services information using its database.

The Central Facility compares the two street addresses, or the geocodinginformation, as the case may be. As the case may be means that localnetwork operator will chose the information, namely the geocodingdatabases or coding directly to the street address. This selection isbased on which of these two approaches is in the infrastructure of LocalNetwork Operator's systems. Either is sufficient for the presentdisclosure. Geocoding is a term of art. Street addresses are a “lowlevel” system. Specifically, geocoding is an elegant system and can findthe middle of a street or park. The system is prepared to use whateverof the two that Local Network Operator reports. In either event, CentralFacility is designed to ingest either form of information. CentralFacility then informs Local Network Operator to give access to theContent requested by the Subscriber at the appliance corresponding tothe unique ID.

The adequacy of proximity will be determined by a heuristic technique,whose definition is experience-based techniques for problem solving,learning, and discovery that find a solution which is not guaranteed tobe optimal, but good enough for a given set of goals. The goal is toensure that the Subscriber is in fact at the location of the STB, not ona phone with a friend or paying client who has supplied the Unique ID #of the friend's STB. Central Facility will, at first, allow Content tobe played even though the calculated distance between the STB and thesmartphone/tablet calculates to a large number (e.g. over a hundredfeet). This permissive posture is intended to minimize Subscriberfrustration in accessing Content. Permissive posture or permissivenessis a desirable posture in fraud detection to limit Subscriberfrustration. In the obverse, if financial transactions are beingprocessed, permissiveness would result in material negative financialconsequences for an enterprise. However in this case, where temporaryaccess to previously purchased Content is not a direct financial loss,and the per transaction exposure is the viewing of one piece of Content,the loss is intangible. Therefore, permissiveness can be practicedwithout fear of direct financial loss, and thus lead to less Subscriberfrustration, and through the use of heuristics, such fraud can beeventually staunched. By example, as temporary access continues,patterns of distance will emerge and will be compared via the databaseof Central Facility to local conditions, e.g. is this address a largeapartment block? Is there verified poor cellular signal or limited wi-finodes at this location. Both of those conditions would yield uncertainlocation information, e.g. over a hundred feet and therefore it would bedifficult to separate fraudulent unauthorized access from authorized,legitimate temporary access. Therefore other than this arbitrarydividing line, fraud detection, which is not quantitative, involvespatterns of temporary access use, such as why a certain Subscriberalways seeming to be far away from the STB, or why he is in a differentplace every night, or how he could be in LA and then NY every othernight, and the like, as opposed to approximations for physically largeaddresses (e.g. large multiple dwelling units that share one address)and for low quality Locations Services data (e.g. when the methods usedby Locations Services in smart phones and tablets yield results that mayhave significant uncertainty). Quantitatively, it is seventy-five (75)to two hundred (200) feet, but preferably one hundred (100) to onehundred fifty (150) and more preferably one hundred (100) feet is aquantitative dividing line between “never check” and “be suspicious andso verify”.

In one limited embodiment of the present disclosure, a Subscriberrelocates to a region without an available local network 120 of system100. For this one embodiment, High Definition audio-visual Content willbe made available using any available network as long as the progressivedownload approach is also used. A backup local network system (notshown) relies on the Internet to ensure that even in the extreme case ofno access to a desired local network 120, the Subscriber is assured thatthe Subscriber's owned Content will continue to be available. The methodfor delivery in this embodiment will be the Internet where CentralFacility 110 connects to the Internet and the Content flows into thehome via a broadband connection into the home and uses the progressivedownload method, so that even if the start time varies depending onconnection speed, the visual quality of the Subscriber's experiencesremains high.

Referring to FIG. 5, Subscriber 140 relocates to a region without alocal network available. Obviously, reserved, fixed bandwidth channel190 is not available. Thus, the High Definition audio-visual Contentwill be made available using any available network 500 with theprogressive download approach in place of reserved, fixed bandwidthchannel 190. In this situation, network 520 will be serviced by aplatform operator server 525 and will use the identified alternativenetwork to connect its server 525 with an appliance 530 that is in thehome of Subscriber 140. The functions and connections between CentralFacility 110 and its database 115 and platform operator server 520 andplatform operator database 521 are the same as in local network 120preferred embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 4. The High Definitionaudio-visual Content will be delivered at the desired value of PSNR,however the Content will not be available for instantaneous viewingbecause network 500 does not have a fixed bandwidth as communicationsline 190.

Progressive download is a term of art that describes a method to delivera file, in this case a large object of High Definition audio-visualContent with the Content compressed using the variable bit rate (VBR)scheme, where the data rate is proportional to that required tosatisfactorily convey the complexity of each scene. The total file sizeis lower than the constant bit rate (CBR) scheme, where the data rate isalways running at the highest value that satisfactorily conveys the mostcomplex scenes of the Content. As the file is downloaded, but before itis finished, the Content can be viewed as long as the file is completelydownloaded just before the end of the Content is viewed. The Subscriberreceives an alert, at 670 discussed below, when they can start theContent playing and be assured that it will not stop during the viewingwhile more of the file is downloaded. In this way, while the quality isassured to be acceptably high the wait time is a function of the varyingresources of the Internet.

Referring to FIG. 6, an Enhanced Progressive Download according to thepresent disclosure is shown. A progressive download file contains theaudio-visual Content structured to transmit two parameters known to thesender: Total size of file in Bytes, S_(B) and Runtime of Content inSeconds, R_(S). At 610, Central Facility inquires of Network PlatformOperator using server 525 what is the Download Speed for the Subscriber,DR_(b/s′). At 620, Central Facility inquires of Network PlatformOperator the amount of Local Storage in Appliance 530 that Subscriberhas allocated to Enhanced Progressive Download of Content. At 630,Central Facility using the following equation:

${\frac{\left\lbrack {S_{B} \times 8} \right\rbrack - \left\lbrack {{LS}_{B} \times 8} \right\rbrack}{{DR}_{b/s^{\prime}}} - R_{S}} = {WT}_{S}$

determines the required Local Storage assigned to typical Contentresulting in a WT of one (1) minute. One (1) minute has been selectedsince it is believed that if a Subscriber must wait longer than oneminute, the Subscriber is annoyed. Thus, one (1) minute can be adjustedhowever the balance of wait time (WT) and number of Content that are“preloaded” is a balance that must be considered in view of the desireof the Subscriber. At 640, the required amount of Local Storage isdivided into the total amount of Local Storage reported above. At 650,if the answer is ten (10) or more, then Network Platform Operator isinformed to “preload” the required amount of Local Storage for each ofthe “10 or more” Content as determined from the Master List of Content,supplied by the Central Facility, into Appliance 530. This is suppliedwith the most probable Content first. Ten (10) has been selected as theminimum number of Content for enhanced progressive download due toexperiences with normal Subscribers. However, theoretically a numbergreater than ten (10) can possibly be selected as the determinativefactor. If the answer is fewer than ten (10), at 660, the calculation isremade based on a WT of two (2) minutes, and so on, until the number ofpieces of Content that can be stored is “10 or more” and that the WaitTime improvement using Enhanced Progressive Download vs. ProgressiveDownload is significant, elaborated further below in paragraph 0086. At670, when the Subscriber chooses to view the most probable Content,Appliance 530 starts to download the remaining part of the Content filenot in Local Storage and starts to play the Content after the WT thathas been selected by the process at 650 or 660 using the portion of theContent File already placed in Local Storage, after the Subscriber hasselected to play. At 680, Appliance 530 seamlessly switches betweenLocal Storage and the Progressively Downloaded file so that the entireContent plays with the appearance of one complete file.

The present disclosure provides for this Enhanced Progressive Downloadas an enhancement to reduce the wait time of an un-enhanced progressivedownload.

The technique uses an approach called “memory hierarchy” (MH). MHfactors the cost and performance of storage and communications links tooptimize the storage of data throughout the computing system. Thetechnique uses MH with a unique algorithm that factors the cost andavailability of storage in the local appliance by predicting whichContents are most likely to be viewed and to keep part or all of thoseContents in local storage so that less download wait time is needed toview them.

Where there is no fixed bandwidth channel 190 available any availablenetwork 500 will be used employing this Enhanced Progressive Downloadtechnique.

Enhanced Progressive Download of the present disclosure will minimizethe Wait Time, as described above.

The overall strategy is to place as much Content locally, in theAppliance, by making a tradeoff between Wait Time, as determined aboveand use of valuable and limited Local Storage (e.g. an Appliance's harddrive). In this way, Wait Time is reduced by using some Local Storage.

Central Facility interrogates the Appliance to determine the LocalStorage amount available, and then refers to the history of data speedsthat are DR_(b/s)′ as calculated above.

Then, Central Facility calculates Wait Times under a variety ofscenarios, under varying amounts of Partial Local Storage of Content,also weighting the file sizes of Content based on location on the List.Partial Local Storage means the storage of part of, i.e. the first partsof a Content file, so that the enhanced Progressive Download will have a“head start” when the Subscriber makes the most probable selection ofContent to be viewed.

The comparisons of % Local Storage consumed and reduction in Wait Timesusing this strategy results in a determination of how much of each pieceof Content to store locally. For example, if the probability assigned toContent A is near 100%, then the goal is to reduce Wait Timesignificantly. If the un-enhanced Wait Time is 15 minutes, but the useof an acceptable amount of Local Storage (e.g. 5% of total LocalStorage), given the history of data speeds, DR_(b/s)′ as calculatedabove would result in an Enhanced Wait Time of 1 minute, this is amaterial convenience for Subscriber A. On the other hand, if theprobability assigned to Content B is 10%, and the un-enhanced Wait Timeis 30 minutes, and given the history of data speeds DR_(b/s)′ ascalculated above, the Enhanced Wait Time would be 15 minutes but wouldrequire 50% of Local Storage, thus Content B would not be assigned anyLocal Storage. In summary, if the probability is high, and the storagerequirement is modest, and the Wait Time is reduced significantly, thenLocal Storage will be assigned to the Content.

The following illustrates, as an example, the efficacy of EnhancedProgressive download. The WT_(S) is fixed at 1 minute or 60 seconds.This value or amount of time will certainly reduce Subscriberfrustration caused by waiting to start a piece of Content once it hasbeen requested. In this example, the length of the Content is 120minutes, a reasonable average for feature length Motion Pictures.

Using the formula above at [0074], whose three terms are restated as:

T(download)−T(run length)=T(wait)

If T(wait) is 1 minute then: T(download)−T(run length)=60 sec

If the Content is 120 minutes then: T(download)−7,200 sec=60 sec orT(download)=7,260 sec

In other words, if the time to download is 7,260 seconds, a very lowwait time of 60 seconds or 1 minute is achieved.

Here is how the formula above appears with the new term, LS_(B), forLocal Storage in Bytes, added to take into account the EnhancedProgressive Download technique:

${{a.\mspace{14mu} \frac{\left\lbrack {S_{B} \times 8} \right\rbrack - \left\lbrack {{LS}_{B} \times 8} \right\rbrack}{{DR}_{b/s^{\prime}}}} - R_{S}} = {WT}_{S}$

A typical piece of Content of 120 minutes requires 5 GB of data tofaithfully convey high image quality using MPEG4 Part 10 for ITU Rec709, discussed above. Therefore, to achieve a Time (download) of 7,260sec. using the above formula, a value for DR_(b/s)′ is required.However, the DR_(b/s)′ cannot be fixed at the needed rate since Network500 is not one of guaranteed data rate performance. Therefore, “LS_(B)”or Local Storage in Bytes must be introduced to the formula above byLS_(B) being subtracted from S_(B) before being divided by DR_(b/s′). Inthis way, the effective size of the Content in Bytes is reduced so thatthe Time to download is reduced.

For reasonable ranges of DR_(b/s′), 1 Mb/s to 4.4 Mb/s , and solving forWT_(S) of 60 seconds for Content of 120 minutes in Run Length, the rangeof LS_(B) is approximately 4.1 GB to 1.0 GB respectively. At the higherend of DR_(b/s′), the WT without enhancement is approximately 32minutes. That is certainly an unacceptable wait time. Therefore, withreasonable amounts of Local Storage, e.g. 1 GB per Content, EnhancedProgressive Download will provide a far preferable alternative toProgressive Download alone.

Referring to the Master List in the Central Facility creates a MasterList of Content that is unique for each Subscriber. The list assigns aprobability to each Content that the Subscriber will choose to view it.This Master List is generated by a two-step process.

Referring to FIG. 7, the first step at 710 is to create multiple listsof Content according to certain criteria. The criteria includes, but arenot limited to, the following: various types of popularity (use BoxOffice Gross and Nielsen Ratings), their release dates, their genre,those most recently purchased by the Subscriber, those most viewed bythe Subscriber with the most viewed first, and the genre(s) theSubscriber most views. Other criteria can include: Contents indescending order of its availability date; theatrically released Contentin descending order of its popularity during its previous run (e.g.theatrical gross); TV released Content in descending order of itspopularity (e.g. TV ratings); Content that has been purchased by theuniverse of Subscribers, in descending order of number of purchases; andContent that has been viewed by the universe of Subscribers with themost viewed first.

The second step is to make a Master List for the Subscriber. At 720,each List of Content is compared and redundancies are removed. At 730, aMaster List of Content is created from the remaining entries on theLists using an algorithm that orders the Content from the most probableto the least probable the Subscriber will select to view. At 740, theMaster List of Content, thus tailored for each Subscriber, is sent tothe Enhanced Progressive Download process in order that the Wait Time ofthe most probable Content to be viewed will be significantly lower, thanif Enhanced Progressive Download was not being used.

Referring to the present system 100, system 100 first chooses parametersand values that will yield acceptable visual quality for viewing on a42″ or greater screen size in the home or residence. High DefinitionFormats and Image Compression using industry standard Image Compressionschemes discussed above at data rates (the values) result in a PSNR ofat least 42 decibels (acceptable visual quality). The present system 100identifies and uses local networks 120 that pass ˜99% of US TVHouseholds or TV Households in the territory of interest and that candeliver those values.

Referring to all embodiments of the present disclosure, to initiate asubscription that uses the method and system of the present invention,the Subscriber subscribes to a local network 120. The Subscriber wouldbe made aware of a purchase offer, (e.g., sell-through) for HighDefinition audio-visual Content (e.g. motion pictures, TV episodes, andthe like) via advertising targeted at consumers and/or Subscribers ofexisting local network operators 120.

If the consumer finds the offer desirable, the consumer would subscribeto the network operator (e.g. cable, IPTV, and the like), which has beenlicensed by the Central Facility based on its appropriate feature set asdescribed above or, if already Subscribing, would Subscribe at the levelto be able to access the offer.

The instrument for access would typically be the network operator's settop box but this appliance could be embedded in display products or be asingle purpose appliance solely for the purpose of accessing the offer.

Once subscribed, the Subscriber would be asked to establish a name andpassword, which could be created and transmitted to the local network orlocal network operator via email, a web-browser interface using theInternet, voice via phone, or a keyboard system of the set top box orother appliance. This name and password would stay with the Subscriberregardless of the local network or local network operator afterrelocation or when additional local networks/operators came on line. Thesole purpose of the name and password would be to purchase and accessthe previously purchased or owned audio-visual Content regardless whichlocal network operated fulfilled the order.

In the usual case, the local network/operator would store the name andpassword in a database so that any set top box associated with thoselogin credentials could access owned and purchase Content. There wouldbe the usual local set top box password that would ensure onlyauthorized individuals could purchase Content. Other password controlswould include ratings, V-chip information and other parental controls.

Once a Subscriber's account is set up, the Subscriber will be presentedwith the library of available audio-visual Content, on screen. TheSubscriber can make purchases at that time and immediately view any ofthe Content so purchased without wait of downloads or other Contentbased network delays. Local network or local network operators couldalso offer purchases via the Internet using a browser interface or anapplication (aka app).

All Set Top Box's (STB's) or other appliances in the household will haveaccess to the purchased Content. Local network/operators may offeraccess via additional appliances that can have limitations of qualityand immediacy, such as wireless devices, but this will be up toindividual local network/operators. The term franchisor, as used herein,includes patent holder/licensee and licensor. The franchisor willlicense the franchisee, and the franchisees determine the Content tomake available to their Subscribers. It is expected that the franchiseeswill offer current popular movies and television shows, or becompetitive with other like services, e.g. iTunes. However, theSubscriber decides what Content, when and where, will be conveyed tohis/her residence.

The above description presents the best mode contemplated for carryingout the present disclosure, and of the manner and process of making andusing it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable anyperson skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use thisdisclosure. However, this disclosure is susceptible to modifications andalternate constructions from that discussed above that are fullyequivalent. Consequently, this disclosure is not limited to theparticular embodiments disclosed. On the contrary, this disclosurecovers all modifications and alternate constructions coming within thespirit and scope of the disclosure as generally expressed by thefollowing claims, which particularly point out and distinctly claim thesubject matter of this disclosure.

I claim:
 1. A system for permitting temporary access for delivery ofContent owned by the Subscriber to a location selected by theSubscriber, the system comprising: a central facility for the storage ofa list of all Content owned by the Subscriber; a plurality of localnetworks operatively connected to the central facility for receipt ofthe Content; and a temporary access protocol comprising: entering aunique ID of an STB at the selected location into a temporary accessapplication so that the Subscriber can select the Content to be accessedfrom a list of all Content owned by the Subscriber; sending a message tothe central facility from the temporary access application, wherein themessage includes the name of the selected Content, the unique ID of theselected location, the location of the temporary access application, anda unique ID of the Subscriber; comparing at the central facility, theselected Content with the unique ID of the Subscriber, wherein if theselected Content is determined to be owned by the Subscriber, thecentral facility queries a local network that has the STB identified bythe unique ID at the selected location so the local network supplies thelocation of the STB to the central facility; comparing at the centralfacility the location of the STB to the location reported by thetemporary access application and determining whether the location of theSTB and the reported location are adequately proximate to each other todetermine that there is no fraudulent activity; and informing the localnetwork, if there is no fraudulent activity, to play the desired Contenton the STB of the desired location.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereinthe temporary access application is on an appliance.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the message can include the appliance on which thetemporary access application is running on.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the comparing at the central facility to determine that there isno fraudulent activity includes comparing the street address or geocodeof the unique ID with the street address or the geocoding information ofthe reported location.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein Content ownedby the Subscriber includes Content licensed or loaned by another to theSubscriber.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the message sent to thecentral facility is via a common communication network.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the communication network is the public internet. 8.The system of claim 1, wherein the location of the STB is provided bythe local network operation.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein thelocation of the appliance is provided by the location services in theappliance.
 10. An enhanced progressive download system for HighDefinition audio-visual Content, comprising: inquiring what is thedownload speed of the Subscriber and the amount of local storage in anappliance of the Subscriber. using the equation:${\frac{\left\lbrack {S_{B} \times 8} \right\rbrack - \left\lbrack {{LS}_{B} \times 8} \right\rbrack}{{DR}_{b/s^{\prime}}} - R_{S}} = {WT}_{S}$determine the required local storage assigned to a typical Content thatwould result in a WT of 1 minute. dividing the required amount of localstorage into the total amount of local storage in the appliance, whereinif the answer is 10 or more, instructing a preload of the requiredamount of local storage for each Content determined from a master listof Content for the appliance, and wherein if the answer is fewer thanten, recalculating based on a WT of 2 minutes.
 11. The enhancedprogressive download system of claim 10, further comprising assigning aprobability to each piece of Content that the Subscriber will choose toview it.
 12. The enhanced progressive download system of claim 10,further comprising calculating wait times based on a number of factors,wherein the number of factors include amounts of local storage and thefile size of the Content based on location on a Content list.
 13. Theenhanced progressive download system of claim 10, wherein when theSubscriber selects to play a desired Content, the appliance commencesdownloading the part of the desired Content not in local storage and,after the wait time, plays the desired Content that is in local storage.14. The enhanced progressive download system of claim 11, wherein theappliance seamlessly switches between local storage and a file of theprogressive downloaded so that the entire Content plays seamlessly. 15.The enhanced progressive download system of claim 11, wherein the entireContent plays seamlessly is with the appearance of one complete file.16. The enhanced progressive download system of claim 11, wherein themaster list is created from multiple lists of Content according tocertain criteria.
 17. The enhanced progressive download system of claim16, wherein the criteria includes Content most recently purchased by theSubscriber and Content most viewed by the Subscriber.
 18. The enhancedprogressive download system of claim 17, wherein the criteria furtherincludes the genre(s) the Subscriber most views, and types of Contentthat are popular with their release dates and genre.
 19. The enhancedprogressive download system of claim 11, wherein the criteria furthercomprises: Contents in descending order of its availability date;theatrically released Content in descending order of its popularityduring its previous run; TV released Content in descending order of itspopularity; Content that has been purchased by the universe ofSubscribers; and Content that has been viewed by the universe ofSubscribers.
 20. The enhanced progressive download system of claim 11,wherein the master list of Content uses an algorithm that orders theContent from the most probable to the least probable the Subscriber willselect to view.